Policy Brief – Patient-centred care: A foundation for effective NCD responses
The Challenge
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality across the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). Conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and chronic respiratory diseases require lifelong management. However, many health systems remain oriented toward short-term, episodic care—creating a structural mismatch that undermines outcomes, equity, and efficiency.
This misalignment poses a direct threat to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Coverage that does not translate into continuous, affordable, and acceptable care for people living with NCDs is incomplete and unsustainable.
Why Patient-Centered Care Matters
From the EM-NCDA perspective, patient-centred care (PCC) is a prerequisite for both effective NCD responses and UHC. PCC ensures that services are designed around people’s lived realities—accounting for socioeconomic conditions, continuity needs, and long-term treatment adherence.
In resource-limited settings, the absence of PCC leads to predictable failures: loss to follow-up, poor adherence, avoidable complications, and rising out-of-pocket expenditures. By contrast, patient-centered models improve continuity, strengthen trust in health systems, and optimize the use of limited resources—delivering better value for money.
In resource-limited settings, the absence of PCC leads to predictable failures: loss to follow-up, poor adherence, avoidable complications, and rising out-of-pocket expenditures. By contrast, patient-centered models improve continuity, strengthen trust in health systems, and optimize the use of limited resources—delivering better value for money.
A Patient Reality from the EMR
“I am registered in the system, but the system is not designed for my life.” Ahmed, a 52-year-old man living with diabetes in the EMR, is officially “covered” by the health system. Yet frequent medicine stock-outs, long travel to clinics, and brief, transactional consultations make sustained care difficult. Over time, fragmented services led to preventable complications.
As Ahmed explains: His experience reflects a broader systemic gap: when care is not patient-centered, UHC exists on paper, not in practice.
Policy Implications
Achieving UHC for NCDs requires a strategic shift from disease-focused, episodic interventions to people-centered, long-term care models—anchored in strong primary and community-based health care.
EM-NCDA Call to Action
EM-NCDA calls on governments, donors, and development partners to:
- Embed patient-centered care as a core pillar of NCD and UHC strategies and policies
- Strengthen primary and community-based health care as the backbone of longterm NCD management
- Meaningfully engage people living with NCDs in policy design, service delivery, and accountability
- Align financing and performance metrics with patient-relevant outcomes: continuity, access, financial protection, and quality of care experience
Key Message
“UHC cannot be achieved without patient-centered care. Reorienting health systems around people—not diseases—is essential for equity, resilience, and sustainability in the EMR.
“I am registered in the system, but the system is not designed for my life.” Ahmed, 52 Living with diabetes, From Sudan
Patient-centered care is essential to achieving Universal Health Coverage for NCDs.
We call to design health systems around people, not diseases.
Eastern Mediterranean NCD Alliance (EM-NCDA)